What... you dont know Goerlitz

One year passed by pretty quickly I have to say.
A year full of action, full of ups and downs, full of things I experienced, things I went trough. It has been a bit more than a month now that I left Egypt. I am like some thousands of kilometers away from where I started a new life, away from all the people and situations, the social context I developed in during the last months. It feels strange to be back, back where I started a year ago. Things seem to be the same, but I am not. It feels as if I landed in my own past. I changed, I developped and I want to make it obvious in my life now. I am really looking forward to start college and have my own flat, to paint its walls, create a place that reflects on the person I am now. I am gonna start studies in Cottbus in October and I also already found a flat close to the campus. I will move to there in September and until then I m gonna work here in Kiel and sell ice cream *yummi* My job starts this Friday. I used the time I have to catch up with friends here and I just came home from a trip to Goerlitz. What... you don t know Goerlitz... well, it is the most eastern town in Germany. Steffi lives there. She came back to Germanz like 2 weeks ago and now we had to see each other. She showed me where and how she lived, we went on a party, we visited Cottbus and made a trip to Dresden. I enjoyed my time with Steffi a lot.
Here some impressions of

my time in Goerlitz... sorry that I write a bit stupid, but mz kezboard is freaking out and z and y changed positions and a lot of other funtions changed places... so... well ... I hate mz kezboard ..look what it does to me ... how do I merit this_ ah this _ is a questionmark, interesting huh_ however... the pictures


GOERLITY *that means goerlitz*



steffi and moi at the *night of the forbidden games* near Goerlitz

Trip to Sakkara

Some days ago Kufta and me surprised Steffi with a trip to Sakkara. The pyramid of Sakkara was the first pyramid in Egypt and looks quite different than those in Giza. It is also called "the Step-pyramid" and is basically the Step-mother of the great pyramids and this was just a stupid joke. thanks for laughing. Let King Kuftya show you this incredible monument:

King Kufta in Sakkara

Steffi has everything in her hands

... but it's not that easy for me - all this pyramid stuff ...

Islamic Cairo

Vor ein paar Tagen war ich mit Steffi Graf Dracula und der Frikadelle in Islamic Cairo. Das ist der alte Teil von Kairo, das ehemalige Stadtzentrum mit den grossen Moscheen und dem tradiotionellen Markt (Khan Khalili). Es war echt spannend die alte Architektur auf sich wirken zu lassen, sich im Souk ins Gedraenge zu mischen und sich mitreissen zu lassen.

Im alten Souk habe ich eine uralte Shisha aus dem Jahre 1900 ausfindig gemacht. Es ist eine Ein-Personen-shisha, die in jede kleine Handtasche hineinpasst und theoretisch wie eine Tabakpfeife mitherumgeschleppt werden kann - ich werde sie jedoch voraussichtlich in den Gemaechern meiner zukuenftigen Studentenwohnung ausstellen.

Steffi Graf und ich haben uns uebrigens den Tag ueber verschleiert- war mal ein ganz neues Gefuehl. Natuerlich war man beim Betreten der Moscheen dazu verpflichtet, aber wir beschlossen den Schleier auch anschliessend nicht abzulegen. eine gute Entscheidung:

Mit dem Schleier habe ich mich endlich eins gefuehlt mit den Menschen und dem Land - keine neugierigen Blicke wegen der bloden Haare, keine missbilligenden Blicke der Alten, denen die Jugend den Traditionen nicht genug Respekt entgegen bringt, keine aufdringlichen Verkaeufer, denen man ansonsten sofort als Tourist aufgefallen war... ein schoenes Gefuehl. Wir genossen ganz neue Freiheiten...

Luxor

going south

Recently I took some days off to travel to Upper Egypt. One of my dreams since I've come here. Ahmed, Wa'el and me took the train from Cairo to Luxor - a journey along the Nile from the Delta to the southern desert. It took like 10 hours to get there. The land close to the nile was fertile, splendid green plantations, bananas, dates, figs, sugarcane... gorgeous. simply beautiful. You also get to know the local part of Egypt- the countryside. People still live there like they did for generations, farmers use donkeys to work on their fields - and their hands to gather the crops. They have to take care of the water-supplyment and you see a lot of men working on little canals or pumps that transport the nilewater to wherever it is needed. They have a hell of a lot to do and yet they are rather limitit in their possibilities. But it felt good to see some more green colour- there's almost no nature to enjoy in Cairo- exept for some parks and some gardens... But of course, you never lost sight of the desert that began some kilometers further and overwhelmed with its colours, its landscapes and its endlessness. It was a nice journey - I didn' mind at all that it was so long - even if me companions slept most of the time. I enjoyed myself ;)

When we arrived at our backpacker hotel we got a warmly welcome. They served us a chilled karkadeia(Hibiscus)-drink which I couldn't possibly resist. We all needed some rest after the journey and relaxed for the rest of the day on the rooftop where the hotel has its' restaurant.
We also started the next day up there- having a laaarge, delicious breaskfast. At like ninish we went to the valley of the kings, where I got in trouble by taking photos cauz it wasn't really allowed. It was fun, the tombs were impressive and the valley itself, too, of course. We contiued our trip bt heading to the temple of hatschepsut- the famous female pharao. Also known as queen Hatschickensoup. Wasn't my idea!
Afterwards we visitit the Habu Temple- one of my favorites in Luxor. There are certainly more famous ones, that's probably also why there weren't that many people. But like this you were almost alone there and you really got the flair of ancient Egypt and that was amazing!

The next day we rented some bikes to visit ther Luxor and the Kernak Temple. Both very big, very beautiful, but too many visitors in my opinion - as me too I'm one of them I couldn't really complain. We had the best guide ever at the Kernak Temple. He was a real archeologist- you could actually point at hyroglyphs and he knew what they ment. I learnt a lot- it was really interesting. In the afternoon we rented a felucca and sailed along the nile. By boat we visited the so called "Banana island", an island with fruit plantations. As I walked through the green fields, the bushes and the trees I felt so happy and complete and I realized that it's been a while since I've enjoyed nature. Almost 10 months. There has been whether city or desert. Nothing inbetween. Like always it's nice to discover pleasure in things that tend to be ordinairy.

It has been a great trip. A trip through history, through the country I live in, a trip through the lives of many people and a trip in company of two very nice guys - my boyfriend and best friend Ahmed and his friend Wa'el, a very talented singer that you should definitly listen to one day!!

como estas ya ronaldinho?

Clash of the Giants - Al Ahly against FC Barcelona. April 24th. Cairo Stadium. Me- in the middle of the red crowd wrapped up in an Al-Ahly flag. The flag disappeared for a little while when Ronaldinho entered the stadium and sat down like some 8 meters infront of me waving to all of us behind him.

A pretty handsome fellow I have to admit. But after the first enthusiasm and after my temporay transformation into a barcelona-fan I got cold and needed the Al-ahly-flag again. al-ahly ist the most famous team here in egypt, it's a local team with a lot of talent. That's why I like it... but they lost 4:0. Ronaldinho the old flaffel-kicker ... shit.

Hartes Brot fuer Waheed.

Eine Woche lang vernachlaessigte ich meine Pflichten als Aupair und keummerte mich um meine Familie, die Anfang April nach Kairo kam.

Ihr Flieger hatte 10 Stunden Verspaetung. Ich verbrachte die Wartezeit damit unser Hotelzimmer auf Vordermann zu bringen. Nach 6 Stunden intensiver Reinigung konnte man es doch tatsaechlich beinahe als sauber bezeichnen. Wenn man nicht gezwungen gewesen waere unter pferdedeckenartigen Lappen zwecks naechtlichem Frostschutz zu pennen haette man sich fast ein wenig zu Hause fuehlen koennen. Schoen dass ich somit bereits fix und fertig war als die Frikadelle und ich meine Familie vom Flughafen abholten. Und da waren sie. Aber der grosse haarige Mann der mich gerade einfach so umarmte war doch nicht etwa mein kleiner Bruder?!! Merkwuerdige Dinge waeren in meiner Abwesenheit geschehen. Es gab deutliche Veraenderungen... manche hatten deutlich mehr andere deutliche weniger Haare als beim letzten Zusammentreffen... alles hoechst interessant. Die erste Nacht blieben wir in Kairo, machten uns aber glech am naechsten Morgen auf und fuhren ans Rote Meer. Das war eine gute Entscheidung- denn dort konnten wir uns ein wenig erholen und die relative Ruhe geniessen.

Am nechten Tag ging es wieder zurueck, sodass wir abends Kairo erreichten. Fuer ein Stuendchen mieteten wir uns noch eine Flukka um ueber den Nil zu segeln. als wir wieder anlegten konnte kofta sachen sagen wie "hier kann mna pria ueber bord schiffen". Er ist einfach ein Sprachtalent der junge. Den Tag darauf erkundetenn wir Zamalek und gingen ins Aegyptische Museum. Abends gingen die Jungs mit Kofta zu seinen Bandproben. Den Tag darauf fuhren wir zu den Pyramiden, dann zu meinen Gasteltern und dann zum alAzharPark wo kofta ein Konzert hatte. Am Ostersonntag gingen wir auf den Khan El Khalili Basar, wo wir zum ersten Mal gemeinsam in einen orientalischen Souk eintauchten und quasi durch gefaktes papyrus schwammen. Abend schauten wir uns die tanzenden Sufis im Kulturzentrum an und waren schwer beeindruckt. An unserem letzten Tag besuchten wir das Pharaonic Village. Man faehrt mit einem Boot ueber einen Fluss, vorbei an Papyrusbestaenden und nachgespielten Szenarien aus pharaonischen Zeiten.Abends hatte kofta dann nco ei konzert- dann musste auch schon gepackt werden um mitten in der Nacht rechtzeitig zum Flughafe aufzubrechen. Der Rueckflug verlief planmaessig. Es war ein tolles Erlebnis- doch alle mussten sich ersteinmal von diesem Urlaub erholen.